14 fire trucks, 42 firemen fought the fire for 5+ hours....

The accumulation of particulates in ventilation ducts in our industry is a hidden hazard in our industry. Even though many companies scheduled duct cleaning on a regular basis accumulations can still occur. Here is a recent incident of a duct fire:

Several Whatcom County Fire District (WCFD7) units were dispatched after 2am on morning during the week of November 13 to a report of a fire at Alcoa Intalco Works.

According to WCFD7 Assistant Fire Chief, they found the fire burning in the carbon plant building’s ducting.

As of 7am, crews remained on the scene to cool the duct work with water from Ladder 41. There were no injuries due to the fire, Hoffman confirmed.

According to WCFD7 Assistant Fire Chief, “These can be tricky to extinguish based on the large scale of the duct work, the height, and gaining access. The sprinkler system in the unit did its job and controlled the fire until crews could arrive and work to fully extinguish it.”

In addition to the Intalco fire crew, there were 14 units on scene with 42 people involved in fighting the fire. It is unknown when they will clear the scene according to Assistant Fire Chief.

Update 9:45am

WCFD7 units have since cleared from the scene. Alcoa spokesperson said the fire has been contained. He said, “The fire was isolated to ductwork associated with the emission control system connected to the carbon plant.”

We congratulate Intalco and the local fire department for extinguishing this fire without any injuries. Even though it took over four hours to extinguish the fire the sprinklers prevented the fire from growing. Why were there sprinklers? Because this company did a hazard assessment and came to the conclusion that a sprinklers were required. When was the last time that your plant did a hazard assessment?

When was the last time your ducts in your facility were cleaned? Have you ever thought about putting a small robot in one of the ducts after cleaning to see how could of a job was actually done?

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